


Blue Eyes

by moeblobmegane



Category: Free!
Genre: (that's an actual tag!!! wtf!!), Alternate Universe, Break Up, Getting Back Together, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-08-31
Packaged: 2019-07-05 03:44:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15855546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moeblobmegane/pseuds/moeblobmegane
Summary: “The bank robbers took one look at you, threw down their bags, and bolted out of there?” He starts laughing, like this is the most hilarious thing he has ever heard.Or: bad guys keep on running away whenever they see Haruka, what the hell.





	Blue Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> i am:  
> 1) drunk in emotions bec of listening to the podcast kaleidotrope,  
> 2) in love with a prompt* i'll link in the end notes,  
> 3) and still partying about Rin’s comeback like i’m a kpop fan and rin is a whole kpop group
> 
> so you get this tnx  
> u can’t give it back it’s yours now

_“I’m quitting swimming,” Rin said, voice quiet and timid in a way Haruka had not heard in years. “And I--”_

_Haruka knew what was coming. Like a tragic character in those movies Rin loves so much, he would say ‘I’m quitting you’. It hurt, but it was to be expected. Rin had been pulling away from him for weeks now, maybe months even and Haruka failed to notice. Breaking up was natural for graduating students like them._

_Truthfully, Rin quitting swimming was a harder thing to accept, than him breaking up with Haruka._

_“I understand,” Haruka said with all the grace he could muster. He didn’t understand, but Rin’s eyes were rimmed red and Haruka didn’t want him to cry anymore. Rin struggling with the decision was enough for him. Rin always tried his best.  
_

_Maybe this time, it wasn’t enough._

_“I’m going to a college in Tokyo,” Haruka said. “It makes sense.”  
_

_Rin looked away, stray tears falling from his eyes. “Yeah. Good luck.”_

_“Good luck to you, too.”  
_

 

* * *

 

 

Five years later, multiple trips abroad and multiple awards later, he decides to move permanently to Tokyo. Away from the past. Away from the pain his hometown reminds him of.

(Five years later, and he’s still in love with Rin.)

 

* * *

 

It doesn’t register when it happens the first time. A teenage gangster bumps into him and shouts at him about medical costs and wanting to fight, when suddenly he blanches and bows down hard like he saw a ghost. “Sorry, sir!” he shouts as he runs away.

It doesn’t register the second time either, when a group of thugs sees him walking through the beach at night and tries to harass him into giving them money. One of them shines a flashlight on his face, and they all simultaneously step back as if in fear. “Shit,” one hisses to the leader, “that’s fucking  _blue eyes_ , boss.”

It only registers that something is  _weird_  when Haru essentially foils a  _bank robbery_  by glaring at the robbers.

 

* * *

 

“So. Let me get this straight.”

Sousuke is squinting at him like he’s grown another head. Haruka cannot believe Sousuke is the one taking his statement. Isn’t he a detective? Shouldn’t someone else be doing this?

“The bank robbers took one look at you, threw down their bags, and bolted out of there?” He starts laughing, like this is the most hilarious thing he has ever heard.

Haruka is  _offended_. He almost died today. They had  _guns_.

“Yes,” he confirms. “It’s unprofessional to laugh.”

Sousuke simply grins at him. Haruka is reminded of all the times that shit-eating grin made him want to punch someone. Exactly what he’s feeling right now, to be honest.

“Maybe it was your face,” Sousuke says. “It can be scary if you put your mind to it.”

If Haruka cared more, he’ll probably file a complaint against Sousuke, but truth is, he’s tired and confused. More confused than anything, though. “Why would they do that?” he asks.

Something in his face must betray his worry, because Sousuke immediately sobers. “Do you want me to look into it?”

“Can you?”

“I’m a detective. I sure can try.”

Haruka sighs. “If you can,” he says.

“Has anything like this happened?”

Now that Haruka thinks about it... Yeah. Yeah, it has.

 

* * *

 

It’s two weeks later when Haruka hears from Sousuke again.

“It’s shady stuff,” Sousuke says. “Yakuza. Big family names. My contacts won’t  _talk_  as soon as they hear your name or sees your picture.” He groans. “It’s like someone started a rumor about you being a monster or something. They literally shake in their boots. It would be funny if it wasn’t so confusing.”

“I don’t understand. I’m just a swimmer.” He’s been shown on TV a couple of times, so most people know him from winning gold for Japan. He’s harmless. He definitely cannot survive bullets.

“You know, though, it’s weird.”

“I know it’s weird.” They’ve  _established_ that.

“No, no, I mean. It’s kinda-- The way they talk about you is weird. Someone called you  _blue eyes_. And there wasn’t fear there. It was  _awe_. Does that ring any bell?”

“I think... one of the people from the beach said that, too.”

“What kind of fucking nickname is  _blue eyes?_ It’s almost like--” Sousuke freezes. He freezes, wide eyed with dawning horrified realization, and mutters, “That  _fucker_.”

“What?”

“You know who talks about you with  _awe_  and rants about how beautiful your eyes are?”

“What.” Haruka doesn’t know where this is going but he almost doesn’t want to ask, judging by Sousuke’s expression.

“I know you haven’t talked to Rin in  _years_ , but it’s time.”

“What.” Yeah. He doesn’t want to go here. He’s staying in Tokyo to  _move on_.

“Rin’s... uh. It’s complicated, really. I’m not even supposed to know, legally speaking, because I’m a cop and he’s... who he is, but the fact is, I know, and I know how romantic that guy can be, so.”

None of that makes any sense to Haruka. He’s even more confused than he was before they started talking.

Sousuke flounders for some more seconds, but he takes one look at Haruka’s unimpressed expression and sighs heavily. It looks like talking to Haruka is aging him. It’s a small comfort. “I don’t want to be the one to tell you, because that’s against the rules of friendship or something. You still have his number, right?”

Haruka doesn’t deign that with a response. They both know he never deleted Rin’s number, even if they were both horrible at using their phones and communicating in any other way than face-to-face or against each other swimming.

“He never changed his number, because as I said: romantic.” The implication that Rin wanted Haruka to call is not lost on him, but he refuses to dwell on that. “Call him and ask to meet. He can explain everything.”

 

* * *

 

Haruka doesn’t call.

He’s here in Tokyo to move on, and he already has a whole life away from Rin.

Not even this curiosity would make him back off from his plans of moving on.

 

* * *

 

His downfall, in the end, is Nagisa.

He is not even in  _Japan_ , this time. He decided to take a vacation to  _London_  to get out of this mess.

And yet, here they are.

“Haru-chan...” Nagisa is looking at him with sparkles in his eyes, as if he deserves praise for five gun-totting museum robbers running the other way as soon as he showed his face. “Did you develop secret powers?”

Haruka sighs. “No.”

“Then, why did those men run away from you?”

He doesn’t know the answer because he never called Rin. Like he probably should have. If this runs this deep, it means multiple robbers in multiple countries knows his face and are  _afraid_. Why would anyone be afraid of him?

“Rin,” he says, like it’s an answer.

“Ah.” Nagisa nods, like he understands. “That makes sense.”

Haruka narrows his eyes. “What makes sense?”

“Rin-chan putting you on The List,” he explains. “I’m  _mostly_  on the list, but I move too much and it’s hard to keep up, I think. I’m probably not as high a priority as you are.”

“What.” Why does everyone know about Rin and he doesn’t?

(Ah. Maybe because he never called.)

Nagisa gapes at him. “Wait, you don’t know yet.” He groans. “Ask him! He’s in Tokyo! Go back to Japan!”

 

* * *

 

He goes back to Japan, because Nagisa will drag him back there if he doesn’t.

He calls, because Nagisa will  _know_  if he doesn’t, and only Nagisa is ridiculous enough to go back to Japan just to make him call.

(A part of him does it because it’s  _unfair_. Because Sousuke knows, and Nagisa knows, and probably Makoto knows too. It’s not fair that only Haruka doesn’t know what’s going on. He used to know Rin best out of all of them.

He used to be the first one to know Rin’s secrets.)

 

* * *

 

 

“Hello?”

Hearing Rin’s voice feels like a jolt of electricity down his spine. It’s been  _five years_ but the feeling is still familiar. It makes him want to run to wherever Rin is just to see his face.

“Rin.”

A sharp intake of breath.

A long silence.

And then, soft, so  _soft_ , Rin asks, “ _Haru_?”

 

* * *

 

Rin tells him to go to the stall outside the gym Haruka frequents.

When Haruka does, he sees Rin standing behind the counter instead of sitting with the other customers.

And as soon as Haruka sits down, the other customers stand up and leave even when they’re not yet finished with their beers. They don’t even  _look_ at his direction.

“Hey,” Rin says, when they’re finally alone. His cheeks are slightly pink, and the intensity in his eyes haven’t changed. Haruka can stare at him forever.

“Hey.” Haruka doesn’t know where to start.

“So. Sousuke said you have questions.”

Haruka nods. “Nagisa mentioned a list.”

Rin groans. “Of course he did.”

“What’s the list?”

“It’s... a list?” Rin cringes. “It’s a list of people I’m protecting. The people they can’t touch.”

None of that makes sense. Why does this keep on happening to Haruka?

“And I have that list because I’m their boss, and they follow me.”

“Whose boss?”

“All of them,” Rin says, which is nonsensical.

“I don’t understand.”

Rin takes a deep breath and walks around the counter to sit beside him. “Remember when I said I wasn’t going to swim again? That I quit?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s because I found out why my dad really died.”

“Didn’t he--”

Rin shakes his head, and the grief is still fresh in his eyes even now. “My mom’s from a... from a Yakuza family. Dad gave up his dream so he could be with mom while she takes over as the fourth generation boss. He-- he wasn’t even part of the business. He was a  _fisherman_. But they sabotaged his boat.”

“Oh.” Haruka unconsciously reaches out, and Rin latches on to his hand.

“Mom tried to keep it from me, but I found out, and it was all I could think about. Finding revenge, or justice, or whatever you may call it. I was  _obsessed_  with learning everything about the family.”

Haruka remembers how Rin slowly pulled away from him those last weeks, how he became distant and absent in a way that Haruka did not recognize.

“And then I found out I was  _good_ at this,” he continues. “Really good. I have  _charisma_.”

He says it jokingly, but Haruka can see it clearly. Haruka saw it first hand before, when Rin was recruiting people to the swim club with nothing but his smile. He figures if there’s anyone who could charm the crime underground into obeying, it’s someone as charming and clever as Rin.

Rin laughs, but it sounds strained. Haruka can hear an undercurrent of fear.

“And then?” he asks, squeezing Rin’s hand.

“It just made sense,” Rin says, shrugging. “To quit swimming, to let you go.” His voice cracks a bit, and Haruka can see his eyes are shining with unshed tears. “If I was going to protect my family, if I wanted at least a chance to be with you, I had to be more powerful.”

Haruka can hear what he’s not saying.  _Powerful enough that you won’t be hurt, too_.

“So you’re the crime boss of the whole world now,” Haruka concludes.

Rin laughs louder this time, almost forcefully, like he was not expecting Haruka’s response and laughter is the only reaction he could muster. “Not the  _whole world_ ,” he says. “Just a huge chunk of it. Large enough that no one will try to step on my toes.”

“And you did that in five years.”

He  _blushes_. How is he a crime boss? “I’m a fast-learner.”

Haruka smiles. “Yeah, I remember.” Rin was exceptional in everything he did. Haruka has always been fascinated. One time, Nagisa joked that Rin was a star that fell down on earth and masqueraded as human, and Haruka silently agreed.

He waits for a few moments, letting Rin stare, letting himself bask in this moment.

And then he asks, “Why do they keep calling me  _blue eyes_?”

Now, Rin’s really blushing. To the tips of his ears and even down to his neck. “Uh.”

Haruka laughs quietly.

“Asshole,” Rin says, with no heat.

“You didn’t answer my question,” Haruka says.

“Do I  _have to_?”

“Yes.”

Rin makes an unintelligible noise, retracting his hand and hiding his face like how he did when they were high schoolers. Haruka wants to kiss him.

“I  _may_  have talked about you to some of them. And I... babble when I’m drunk. So the nickname caught on? They liked it. They think you’re a  _siren_ , with eyes capable of enchanting the strongest of men.”

Haruka  _really_  wants to kiss him. “Hm.”

“And you are,” Rin says,  _whispers_  really. Into his hands. Because he’s still hiding his face. “You’re a siren with the most beautiful eyes.”

Haruka reaches forward to tug his hands away. “Then  _look at me_.”

Rin does.

 

* * *

 

Haruka Nanase is known worldwide as the dolphin of Japan, as the olympic mermaid.

But to the underground, in quiet whispers, they know him as  _the siren,_ the man who captured Rin Matsuoka’s heart.

**Author's Note:**

> *this prompt 
> 
> it's 5am here and i started writing this like an hour or so ago so don't judge me


End file.
